The award was voted on by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league's 32 cities. Wolf becomes the first goaltender to win the Bastien Award in back-to-back seasons since its creation in 1984.
Wolf followed his outstanding rookie season with another remarkable campaign in 2022-23, leading the AHL in every major statistical category including wins (with a record of 42-10-2), save percentage (.932), goals-against average (2.09) and shutouts (seven). Wolf also played more minutes (3,238), faced more shots (1,653) and made more saves (1,540) than any other goaltender in the league, backstopping the Wranglers to the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL's regular-season champions. In addition to the Bastien Award, Wolf captured the Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award, given to the goaltender(s) on the team that allows the fewest goals in the regular season.
Also named a First Team AHL All-Star for the second year in a row, the 22-year-old Wolf has compiled a record of 77-20-6 with a 2.24 GAA, a .927 save percentage and seven shutouts in 105 AHL appearances. The native of Gilroy, Calif., was a seventh-round choice by the Calgary Flames in the 2019 NHL Draft and made his NHL debut with the Flames on Apr. 12, stopping 23 shots in a 3-1 win over San Jose.
This marks the fourth consecutive year in which Wolf has won his league's top goaltender award; he earned the Del Wilson Trophy playing for Everett in the Western Hockey League in both 2019-20 and 2020-21.
The Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award, which was first presented in 1984, honors former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Baz Bastien, who played four seasons in goal with the AHL's Pittsburgh Hornets (1945-49) before suffering a career-ending eye injury. Bastien would go on to serve as head coach and general manager of the Hornets, leading them to the 1967 Calder Cup championship. Previous winners of the award include Jon Casey (1985), Sam St. Laurent (1986), Mark Laforest (1987, '91), Felix Potvin (1992), Corey Hirsch (1993), Jim Carey (1995), Manny Legace (1996), Martin Biron (1999), Dwayne Roloson (2001), Jason LaBarbera (2004, '07), Ryan Miller (2005), Michael Leighton (2008), Cory Schneider (2009), Jonathan Bernier (2010), Jake Allen (2014), Matt Murray (2015), Peter Budaj (2016), Troy Grosenick (2017), Garret Sparks (2018), Alex Nedeljkovic (2019), Kaapo Kahkonen (2020) and Logan Thompson (2021).
In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
